Blackedoutford
New member
Awesome story. Myself and my wife and our 3 kids attended fj summit this year. They too flew into Denver and I drove from Tampa Florida. It's truly amazing out there.
Florida to Colorado, a 5,000 mile tour of the country
- Thread starter prerunner221
- Start date
Boonie Buster
Observer
Awesome Trip! Good setup! We just got back from two weeks in and around Yellowstone and this is making me want to hop back in the truck and go!
prerunner221
Adventurer
I would have really liked to, but didn't for a couple reasons.
For starters, this was my first "overland" trip I've been on in 30 years, and I was barely out of diapers for my first one. I had a lot of learning to do during the trip, with the truck, with my set up and with camping in general. I haven't camped since high school and even then it was always within reach of bathrooms and showers and the like. It took me a few days to get my kit sorted out and get it set up in a way that worked day to day.
The next trip I go on solo I will try to find something remote and actually do some actual camping. I need to work out the obvious bathroom issue, which I honestly don't know how to handle. It seems obvious, go dig a hole, go and bury it, but I don't know if that's really kosher in a state park or forest. I know hikers do it all the time, but I just have never primitive camped before. I know they sell little pop-up tents and chem toilets for this issue, but that seems like a real pain for something as basic as hearing the call of nature. Maybe you all can give me some ideas. I would have just winged it, except for the second reason.
The second issue I had with primitive camping was my wife was with me. This was her first ever camping trip. Just to get her camping I had to get a RTT and not a ground tent, and some other niceties I myself could have done without. Don't get me wrong, an excuse to spend some money on a RTT and some cool camping gear was great, and it actually made the trip extremely comfortable for both of us. She only asked me to provide a couple things, real bathrooms with showers, good food and a comfy bed. KOA's and state parks got me the bathrooms and showers, and the RTT and some cool mobile kitchen items got me the rest.
She thoroughly enjoyed the trip and has been helping me pick new stuff to buy for our next trip, win/win. Happy wife, happy life.
I would like to find some areas around me though where I can try out real camping. It would be really nice to not have a bunch of other people around and just light a fire and truly get away from everyone and everything.
For starters, this was my first "overland" trip I've been on in 30 years, and I was barely out of diapers for my first one. I had a lot of learning to do during the trip, with the truck, with my set up and with camping in general. I haven't camped since high school and even then it was always within reach of bathrooms and showers and the like. It took me a few days to get my kit sorted out and get it set up in a way that worked day to day.
The next trip I go on solo I will try to find something remote and actually do some actual camping. I need to work out the obvious bathroom issue, which I honestly don't know how to handle. It seems obvious, go dig a hole, go and bury it, but I don't know if that's really kosher in a state park or forest. I know hikers do it all the time, but I just have never primitive camped before. I know they sell little pop-up tents and chem toilets for this issue, but that seems like a real pain for something as basic as hearing the call of nature. Maybe you all can give me some ideas. I would have just winged it, except for the second reason.
The second issue I had with primitive camping was my wife was with me. This was her first ever camping trip. Just to get her camping I had to get a RTT and not a ground tent, and some other niceties I myself could have done without. Don't get me wrong, an excuse to spend some money on a RTT and some cool camping gear was great, and it actually made the trip extremely comfortable for both of us. She only asked me to provide a couple things, real bathrooms with showers, good food and a comfy bed. KOA's and state parks got me the bathrooms and showers, and the RTT and some cool mobile kitchen items got me the rest.
She thoroughly enjoyed the trip and has been helping me pick new stuff to buy for our next trip, win/win. Happy wife, happy life.
I would like to find some areas around me though where I can try out real camping. It would be really nice to not have a bunch of other people around and just light a fire and truly get away from everyone and everything.
CSG
Explorer
You did "real" camping but I was just looking at your rig and figured your were an old hand. You see that big 5th wheel in my signature? That's the only rig my wife will go "camping" in. 
There's nothing wrong with camping in campgrounds, it seems a good number of people here do that instead of boondocking in spite of their overland equipped rigs. In a couple weeks, I'm doing a solo trip up through Yellowstone and on to Glacier. I'll be taking my van and will camp, mostly, in the national park campgrounds. In October, I'll be trying out camping for a couple nights in my Lexus Land Cruiser for a run down to California where I intend to hit Yosemite, Sequoia, and Mono Lake. I'm guessing mostly campgrounds there too. It'll only be a couple nights as I've got some family matters to attend to in SoCal and prefer driving the LLC down there vs. the van.
Anyway, I was simply looking at your rig which is more (to my mind, anyway) an overland type vehicle. The fact you got your wife to camp out of that vs. a self contained travel trailer or similar is impressive! The short of it is the journey, not where you sleep at night.
On the bathroom thing, I try to use real restrooms whenever I can but carry either the little Porta Potty that came with the van or a Wag bag toilet. I use those sanitary wipes to try to keep clean and a Simple Shower to do a little better job and wash hair. It's different for us guys vs. women, especially as they get a little older.
The rig I owned when I met my wife was a little imported truck with a camper shell and carpet kit. She'd never camped in her life and this was pretty primitive for her. We went backpacking once (I did it regularly). It was a small disaster and the one and only time she ever backpacked. Within a few years, I had a new truck and a self contained Lance camper. She was OK with that and we once did a six month trip in it (in 1992) to look for somewhere else to live other than California. Now, it takes the big fiver to get her to go anywhere other than a hotel and I hate towing so we mostly stick to day trips and I go off a few times a year for a few days to a week in the van. When my boys were younger they were OK with the van but they don't have the camping bug either so they'd prefer a self contained condo on wheels of some sort too.
There's nothing wrong with camping in campgrounds, it seems a good number of people here do that instead of boondocking in spite of their overland equipped rigs. In a couple weeks, I'm doing a solo trip up through Yellowstone and on to Glacier. I'll be taking my van and will camp, mostly, in the national park campgrounds. In October, I'll be trying out camping for a couple nights in my Lexus Land Cruiser for a run down to California where I intend to hit Yosemite, Sequoia, and Mono Lake. I'm guessing mostly campgrounds there too. It'll only be a couple nights as I've got some family matters to attend to in SoCal and prefer driving the LLC down there vs. the van.
Anyway, I was simply looking at your rig which is more (to my mind, anyway) an overland type vehicle. The fact you got your wife to camp out of that vs. a self contained travel trailer or similar is impressive!
The short of it is the journey, not where you sleep at night.On the bathroom thing, I try to use real restrooms whenever I can but carry either the little Porta Potty that came with the van or a Wag bag toilet. I use those sanitary wipes to try to keep clean and a Simple Shower to do a little better job and wash hair. It's different for us guys vs. women, especially as they get a little older.
The rig I owned when I met my wife was a little imported truck with a camper shell and carpet kit. She'd never camped in her life and this was pretty primitive for her. We went backpacking once (I did it regularly). It was a small disaster and the one and only time she ever backpacked. Within a few years, I had a new truck and a self contained Lance camper. She was OK with that and we once did a six month trip in it (in 1992) to look for somewhere else to live other than California. Now, it takes the big fiver to get her to go anywhere other than a hotel and I hate towing so we mostly stick to day trips and I go off a few times a year for a few days to a week in the van. When my boys were younger they were OK with the van but they don't have the camping bug either so they'd prefer a self contained condo on wheels of some sort too.
awesome trip! we went to Colorado last year, stayed in a nice resort in breckenridge. going back this fall and staying in a nice resort in steamboat springs. we did alot of travelling around and checking places out, this year was a bit spur of the moment booking, but im sure we will do alot of exploring. maybe next year we will get to camp. the 20+ hour drive to denver is worth it, beyond denver, the sky is the limit.
prerunner221
Adventurer
Denver and Boulder were cool cities. Boulder had what looked like some pretty nice camping spots just outside of the city up the mountain. I only drove through Breckenridge but it looked like a fun place to be during the winter. We didn't dare stop though. As we were driving back towards Denver to drop my wife at the airport the highway headed the opposite direction of us was at a standstill for almost 40 miles. Everyone that lives in the cities looked to be flocking to the hills for the 4th of July celebrations. Living in Orlando I understand traffic, but the only time I've seen it that bad here was when Floridians evacuate for a hurricane.
JandDGreens
Adventurer
Love your write-up on your trip. I think you have a great rig for that kind of trip. Did you get the chance to do any of the trails down in Ouray, I went down there last summer to stay in a motel and play in the area. It just happened to be a week-end that Ouray hosted an event very similar to a Jeep Jamboree For Toyota owners (Mostly FJ's like yours). I hope to do some boon docking down there and run the Alpine loop as soon as I get my camp trailer done. The area is rich in the history of how the state was established. Which peeks my interest in the way they lived back then.
My wife doesn't like to rough it more than three days at a time. So my challenge is to make my set-up as female friendly as I can. Or do the same as you and hit a KOA camp ground like you did. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
My wife doesn't like to rough it more than three days at a time. So my challenge is to make my set-up as female friendly as I can. Or do the same as you and hit a KOA camp ground like you did. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Last edited:
prerunner221
Adventurer
I got to hit a few. We checked out Imogene Pass but didn't get more than a couple hundred feet past the bridge. It was really pouring when I made it there and I was by myself with my wife and parents in the truck. Not the time to get real adventurous. We did get up Yankee Boy Basin, Animas Forks and Corkscrew Pass and some of Hurricane Pass. Yankee Boy got exciting when we got snow at the top and then landslides on the way down. Almost got stuck out in Animas. My folks got to check out a lot of Colorado that day they would have never seen in the minivan they drove out there. All in all it was a really good trip.
As for the KOA's, the one in Ouray was nice and only five minutes from the town. We did a lot of touring out of that camp site, and while I would have loved to do some backwoods camping, looking back, I'm happy I didn't. The wife is all about how that trip went and wants to do another soon. If I had her out in the middle of the woods without toilets and showers I'm not sure she would feel the same way.
As for the KOA's, the one in Ouray was nice and only five minutes from the town. We did a lot of touring out of that camp site, and while I would have loved to do some backwoods camping, looking back, I'm happy I didn't. The wife is all about how that trip went and wants to do another soon. If I had her out in the middle of the woods without toilets and showers I'm not sure she would feel the same way.
JandDGreens
Adventurer
I am approaching things in quite the same way. My wife will go camping, lake kayaking, Hiking and she will go wheeling with me occasionally, but unless I can provide her with a way to clean-up and use a bathroom of some sorts. I don't think she will be to keen on a over landing type of adventure. I need to work that in slowly. But she would not have a problem with me going it alone.
We only did Yankee Boy Basin. I think a trip to Ouray camping/boon docking then heading to Moab would be a trip that would be fantastic.
How do you like your roof top tent and awning? I am considering both of those that you have adding them to my camping trailer as I can afford them.
We only did Yankee Boy Basin. I think a trip to Ouray camping/boon docking then heading to Moab would be a trip that would be fantastic.
How do you like your roof top tent and awning? I am considering both of those that you have adding them to my camping trailer as I can afford them.
prerunner221
Adventurer
They were fantastic. Can't say enough good things about them. The awning gets a lot use even when I'm not on the road. The tent made all the difference for the wife, and honestly, me. I don't know if I would have enjoyed ground tent camping for 2 weeks. Sleeping in the tent was almost like sleeping at home, to the point where when I got home I didn't sleep well for the first two nights because I got used to the mattress in the tent. The added benefit is that as long as I was able to find a flat place to park, it didn't matter what the ground conditions were. I camped in everything from small rock, loose sand, larger rocks and 6 inches of water. It didn't matter, I was 6 feet off the ground.
